Must Love Dogs
by dualce
Summary: Lovino is a cat, and Alfred is the dog that moves in across the street. They don't get along. Yet. Silliness and fluff, I won't even pretend otherwise.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, and this is most definitely not for profit.**

_I don't know what this is, besides 2300 words of pure fluff, and a lot of silliness. If it's not obvious, I love animals. I have two cats, and yes, they pretty have me under their cute little kitty paws._

* * *

Lovino thinks he's got it pretty good. He lives in a nice house, kind of small for him and Feliciano, but it's got a window facing the west that he likes to nap in, when the sun is warm and setting low in the sky, and there's a small kitty door for him and Feliciano to get in and out through, and Antonio feeds them everyday, a _huge_ bowl, which is better than when they were in the shelter, and there's hardly any dogs in the neighborhood.

It's a pretty good life. Lovino tolerates Antonio, who hardly ever picks him belly-up anymore after Lovino scratched his face, and sometimes when he's feeling magnanimous he'll cuddle up to his human when he's lying in bed watching bad images flicker across the black box and feeling lonely. Only _sometimes_, though. And Feliciano isn't nearly so exasperating now that he can go outside and play and get stuck in trees, and even though Antonio has to rescue him on a weekly basis, at least he isn't pressed up against Lovino in a small, smelly cage, mewling and frightened and picked on by the bigger, meaner cats.

All in all, Lovino feels pretty happy. He naps most of the day and eats well and Antonio is annoying, yes, but he gives them soft wet food once a week and combs their fur and lets Feliciano sleep on his head when there's loud, crackly thunderstorms and doesn't try to cuddle Lovino too often without Lovino's permission.

The next day, a new human moves into the house across the street, the one that has been empty for years, and the new owner has a _dog_.

Lovino is annoyed. Lovino is a pissy cat, it's true, while Feliciano is the happy one, and also the outdoors cat – but Lovino likes to be inside, likes it when it's quiet and boring and nothing exciting _ever_ happens.

The new dog is loud, and cheerful, and talks a lot, from yappy barks to deep howls to _pay-attention-to-me_ woofs, and Feliciano, the traitor, looks like he's ready to make friends within a week of them moving in. Feliciano is _supposed_ to be the scaredy cat out of the two of them! And he is, at first, sitting at the top of the step and staring across the street at the loud, obnoxious, bouncing dog behind the white fence. Lovino watches him watch the dog through the window, and doesn't bother to get up from his perch. It takes a couple of days for the dog to even notice they're there – then he's barking excitedly and jumping up and down, trying to get a good look at them from behind the fence.

Feliciano rockets straight up in alarm and darts inside and Lovino thinks, _told you so_, but then in the evening, the dog's owner, a short, boring looking guy with a perpetual frown on his face comes out with the dog on a leash just as Antonio arrives home on his bike.

The man gives him a stiff nod as Antonio rides up, but of course Antonio is so stupidly friendly and cheerful, they next thing Lovino knows the man is walking up to ring the doorbell the next day. He's just as stiff and awkward as he looks, bending uncomfortably to pet at Feliciano and Lovino, and Lovino wards him off with a hiss. Feliciano, the fool, just prances up to him and rubs all over his legs, although he smells terribly of _dog_.

Antonio smiles and laughs, more than usual, a _lot_ more than usual, and the man – Arthur, smiles back exactly twice, mouth twisting like he's bitten something sour. But that seems to be enough – the rest of the evening, after he leaves, Antonio walks around with a goofy smile on his face, humming an old song, and even tries to pick Lovino up, until Lovino hisses and hides under the couch.

The next day, Feliciano creeps down the steps and crosses the street, and Lovino sits bolt upright in the window, claws digging into wood. Feliciano must think the dog is as nice as his owner, but Lovino knows that isn't always the case. The dog's excited yapping gets higher pitched, and Lovino winces as Feliciano pokes his nose in between the fence. Then the dog gets quiet, and Lovino really starts worrying with Feliciano hops up and over the fence and _disappears_.

Feliciano is going to be _mauled_ and _eaten_ and they'd just gotten _here_ and this was worse than the time with the _German Shepard_ and Lovino is outside and on the front steps before he jerks to a stop, heart pounding viciously in his chest. If Feliciano is being eaten, there's nothing Lovino can do, is there? Lovino wilts and trembles, because it's just like before the shelter, when they were stuck outside, and it rained all the time, and got cold, and he couldn't do anything when those big, mangy cats with wild eyes and torn ears glared at them and chased them and stole their food. Yet he can't make himself leave, so he just crouches on the cement and watches the shadows behind the slanted fence anxiously.

His tummy is just starting to rumble, and the sun is getting really hot, making him sleepy against his will for once, when Feliciano comes prancing from around the back yard of the house across the street and wanders over to Lovino. Lovino goes from relieved to extremely furious in a second, especially when Feliciano tries to snuggle up to him with a happy sigh.

He snarls and bats Feliciano away and ignores his wounded look, stalking back inside the house. Feliciano trails with a whine and a _what's wrong_ and Lovino turns around to glare at him. He's distracted by the dog across the street, though, who has figured out he can peek over the fence when he stand on his hind legs, and catches Lovino's eyes. He barks a _hey!_ and Lovino freezes, while his dumb brother just waves a paw, like they were best friends and Lovino hadn't spent the whole day worrying about his safety.

Lovino whirls around and stomps inside and spends the rest of the day hiding on the big white washer machine, where he knows Feliciano can't reach since he can't jump that high, and even if the dog didn't _sound_ threatening, and Feliciano didn't get hurt at all, that didn't mean a friendly greeting can just make everything _okay_.

Lovino sulks the rest of the day and the night, and sleeps on the office chair instead of the bed with Antonio and Feliciano, and tries to keep sulking the next day, until Feliciano wears him down with lots of surprise _snuggle-play-attacks_ and even starts to stalk his food bowl, so unless Lovino wants to go hungry and spend the rest of his days on top of the washer, he gives in.

He settles back into his window, even though Feliciano is annoying him about going to meet the dog – _Alfred_ – across the street – _he's very nice_ – Lovino has better things to do – _his yard is big_ – like take a nap – _he has a great sleeping spot_ – which probably smells like dog – _and treats!_ – so it can't be that great – _Arthur gave me a treat too_ – what, that's so unfair! – _you should come meet them so you can have one too!_ – even though Lovino's already met Arthur, that's what Lovino ends up doing.

_After_ his nap, he informs Feliciano with a flick of his tail, and Feliciano purrs in triumphant and bounces away.

The dog – _Alfred_ – is a blur, racing back and forth along the fence line as Lovino and Feliciano wander up. He slows down to poke his nose through the fence, and Lovino hangs back as Feliciano moves forward. They sniff for a second, then Feliciano turns and ducks through a scratched out hole under the fence, and Lovino is _not_ going to go belly first into a bad situation. No. No way.

Feliciano pokes his head through the hole and chirps at him. Alfred stands in front of Lovino, quiet, and behind the fence he can see his tail wagging. Although Lovino wants to claim that it's just an act, all trickery and sweetness to get a couple of cats in his mouth, dogs aren't actually _that_ smart, he concludes, and so he follows his brother, slipping under the fence and crouching low, expecting to be barreled over at any second.

But Alfred just stands there, and grins, and wags his tail. He jogs up to Lovino after a few moments, and his paws really are huge, and drops his head, and Lovino manages not to hiss although his back arches up, fur standing on end.

_Hi!_ Alfred says pleasantly, and Lovino doesn't respond, mustering a steely look, and abruptly walks off. Feliciano follows him, rolling around his feet and beaming, asking him to play nice, but Lovino just edges carefully around him and ignores _both_ of them. There is, in fact, a large doghouse in the corner, he notices, and it smells, of course, but it does look comfortable and full of nice, soft blankets. It's not so bad, Lovino admits.

Then Alfred has to go and ruin it all by _sniffing_ him. He pushes his big old gross wet dog nose in Lovino's face, and Lovino yowls in surprise and swipes him with sharp claws. Alfred leaps back and Lovino races past him, ignoring Feliciano's cries and Alfred's surprised whine and disappears into his house.

Lovino sits on top of the washer and refuses to speak to Feliciano until Antonio comes home and even Antonio can tell something is wrong, since it's obvious with Feliciano crying like a kitten at the base of the large white washer.

Lovino turns his head away but Antonio ruffles the hair on his head, scraping his fingers into the side of his cheek in just the way Lovino likes it. He murmurs some soothing human words and leaves Lovino alone, picking up Feliciano on his way out, and Lovino is left in peace, although he feels a little cold and lonely as the night wears on, so he goes and sits in his window and watches the neighborhood, and if he happens to glance at the yard next door, well. That's fine because the yard is empty and quiet, and eventually the light that is still on in the other house, illuminating the window, clicks off. Lovino, who is decidedly not waiting for anything to happen, falls asleep.

Lovino spends the next day ignoring Feliciano, which means having to hang out on top of the washer, so he doesn't realize what's happening until it's too late. Antonio had come home from where ever he spent his days, and petted Lovino, which was normal. He had been humming and singing, and making human food, which wasn't unusual, but when the door rang Lovino realized belated that something was up.

He could hear the chirping of human voices, and the smell of _dog_, and oh _no_! The human Arthur was over with _Alfred_. Lovino tensed as he heard them come in, Alfred sniffing around and Antonio chattering loudly and Arthur's stiff feet on the floor. Antonio came back around after a few moments, Feliciano winding around his legs, and smiled at Lovino as he moved around the kitchen.

_Come on Lovi be nice,_ Feliciano cajoled, purring at him, and then immediately got distracted as Antonio pulled some mouth-watering human food out.

_He's not going to give you any!_ Lovino snapped meanly, because Antonio never purposely shared but sometimes they could be sneaky and get some leftovers off his plate, but Feliciano ignored him and followed Antonio out into the dining room.

Lovino huffed and settled down and glared at the wall, refusing to come out. No way was he talking to that stupid _dog_ Alfred, who was obnoxious and too fast and smelly and who bounded into the kitchen right then and stopped right in front of Lovino.

Lovino hissed and puffed up and backed away, and Alfred just looked at him with big blue eyes. _Sorry_, was all he said, _I didn't mean to scare you,_ which wasn't completely true, Lovino wasn't scared at all,and _I wouldn't hurt you!_ which Lovino didn't quite believe but didn't _not_ believe either.

It wasn't that easy to fool Lovino twice, so he just glared. Alfred plopped himself down on the floor and tilted his head. _I like your house_, he said, and _Antonio is nice_, and Lovino was glad that he noticed but didn't deign to say anything. He sniffed and looked away, and listened to Alfred breathe. He was noisy, both with talking and breathing and just existing, and it was hard to ignore him over the sounds in the next room, too. Antonio was making the most noise, of course, but Lovino could also hear Arthur responding, and they sounded like they were – maybe – possibly – happy. Lovino felt irritated for no reason and scowled at the wall.

_You can have some of my scraps?_ Alfred said, sounding a little uncertain, and Lovino couldn't help himself, turning to look at him. Alfred smiled as he saw him looking and Lovino glowered and looked away, but he could hear Alfred's tail thumping on the kitchen floor.

Lovino stood up and made a show of stretching, taking his time, and then said loftily, _Fine_, before leaping past Alfred and sauntering away. Alfred woofed cheerfully and bowled Lovino over as he raced by him, and Lovino screeched and puffed his tail up, but Alfred just looked back and grinned, tongue hanging out.

Later he gave a scrap to Lovino, a big juicy one, and a little tiny one to Feliciano, so Lovino decided to forgive him. Just the once, though.

* * *

fin.


End file.
